Australian hardcore punk sensation Clowns have a new record out with Fat Wreck Chords in April and I listened and reviewed the record for our zine.
I first saw Clowns perform live at a show in Zagreb, Croatia in 2017. I was struck with the ferociousness and primal wild energy of their performance almost feeling the wild and raw side of punkrock slapping me on my face. Now, two years later, their new record is here. Could they capture that spirit on the studio record, I asked myself? Of course! The new on contains 11 songs and first thing that comes to mind upon listening is the increase of various music structures and melody on this record. Don´t get me wrong, it still is their basic garage hardcore punk with all the speed and wild drive, but they managed to incorporate some very nice melodies in the background of the song structures. The musicianship of these guys is on very high level and it looks so easy when you see them playing their stuff, but it definitely is not. I love the melody of Bland Is The New Black, Freezing In The Sun or I Wanna Feel Again. There are also some psychodelic parts like in May I Be Exhumed and of course the calm atmospheric oriental parts of Nurture were a music to my ears. These are highlights of this record for me, but you should get this one, listen and find yours. Great one!
The record contains 3 songs of darkened, screaming, noisy hardcore with lyrics sung in Italian language. The first one, Rosso Arteria is an ode to beautiful, melancholic, screamy emotional hardcore with brutality and sadness mixing in one great lake of murky dark waters.
The second, Resia is for me the best song on the e.p. having awesome mixture of melody, slower atmospheric parts and straightforward noise hardcore. Third song called Filigrana starts light with vocals and guitar, but evolves into hymn to anguish and inner felt demons that fight with our psyche every single day. Great record!
Binary are hardcore/powerviolence/metalcore/screamo band from Philadelphia and I reviewed their record for our zine. The record is out with Zegema Beach Records.
These guys play interesting mixture of metalic hardcore, screamo vocals and occasional powerviolence blastbeats delivering an energetic punch of in your face hardcore. There are 9 songs on this record. I love how they used samples or spoken word in some songs(Do You Know How An Angler Fish Works?) because I think such parts perfectly fit in dissonant and harsh music like this one. The songs are short and sweet, just the way they should be, with strange titles like I´ll Backhand The Fuck Out Of The Seagull or Like Us On Facebook To Make Us Hypocrites, haha, I swear I can also hear Converge, Today Is The Day and some New Orleans sludge influence in there, like EyeHateGod or Buzzoven similar parts thrown in. This is the kinda hardcore that I love nowadays. Underground scene is beautiful when you discover new and awesome bands every single fucking day. Great stuff!
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 